A Day In The Life Of Sanjou Yukito
by Nalanzu
Summary: Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger: One single day, seen through the eyes of Sanjou Yukito. The life of a Ranger can be many things, but it is never, ever boring.


_Notes: I have no excuse for this. But it was fun! Um, indeterminate timeframe, most probable to have occurred earlier in the series rather than later. Enjoy!_

The hours before dawn are filled with a special type of silence. The one lucky enough to be awake is witness to utter stillness and a pervading sense of peace.

That is, unless the person in question has nightmare-prone flatmates.

Sanjou Yukito dragged the pillow over his head, even though he knew from past experience that it wouldn't block out the cries from the next room.

"...Mahoro..."

Yukito dropped the pillow and glared at the wall separating his room from Asuka's, resisting the urge to hit it. It never helped, anyway.

Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger: A Day In The Life Of Sanjou Yukito 

Dawn had barely broken above the horizon - not that it was visible in the middle of Tokyo - when Yukito made his way downstairs, but Ryunosuke was already hard at work preparing to open the cafe. Yukito wasn't quite sure why the place was open so early on Sundays; they rarely got customers at that hour. Occasionally he suspected that Ryunosuke just wanted an excuse to wake them up that much earlier on the weekend.

"Good morning, Yukito!" Ryunosuke's greeting was cheerful, despite his apparently total concentration on whatever task was at hand.

Yukito grunted at Ryunosuke's back. Green tea and possibly the newspaper were all he felt inclined to deal with now. It was inhuman to be awake this early.

"Ah, Yukito, that reminds me."

Yukito tensed. Those were ominous words. They never prefaced something good. "Yes?" he said slowly.

"We ran out of tea yesterday. Would you pick some up as soon as the stores open?"

"I knew it," he muttered. Bad news, making the start to his day even more inauspicious.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I'll go." Yukito sighed. "Do we have any coffee?"

During the time he'd spent in America - how long ago had that been? - he'd developed a taste for coffee. Good coffee. Yukito stared down at the mug in his hands. It held a substance that might loosely be termed coffee, if one was lacking a sense of both smell and taste and had never heard of coffee to boot. He swirled it around moodily. Perhaps if he fed it to Asuka, it would chase the nightmares away. It certainly tasted bad enough.

Yukito forebore to mention his less than flattering opinion on the so-called coffee, opting instead to get the newspaper from outside. It was getting warmer already, the sky lightening to what promised to be a dazzling blue. He spent a minute just looking at the reflection of the sunlight crawling across the windows opposite, stringing glittering webs across the otherwise mundane buildings. "The hell," he muttered at his own observation, and ducked back inside.

"Do you need any help?" he asked Ryunosuke before taking the paper over to the glass table in the center of the main room.

"No, just the tea later." Ryunosuke had run the cafe alone before the four of them - plus Emiri and Mai - had unceremoniously dropped into his life, but it didn't hurt to ask if he needed the help. Yukito shrugged and left the kitchen.

The routine of sipping a hot drink while reading the previous day's news helped restore a sense of balance. Yukito grimaced as he came across mention of the Abarangers - a small article on the eleventh page. Not that he expected adulation, but how the general populace could dismiss their existence as an 'urban legend' when they battled skyscraper-size monsters at least twice a week was beyond him. What, did they think it was a mass hallucination? Then again, he'd seen the buildings that he knew they had damaged during their fights standing unscathed mere hours later. A note comparing them to 'Masked Riders' almost made him laugh out loud. Masked Riders really were urban legends; there was no way they could be real and operating in Tokyo. He or one of the others would have seen them by now.

"Ryou-chan! Ryou-chan! You're gonna be late!"

Yukito barely had time to register Mai's voice before a five-year-old body threw itself across him, fingers scrabbling on the glass to reach the remote control. Ryouga stumbled into the room a few seconds behind his daughter, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Morning, Sanjou-san," he said, stretching. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Kkh." Yukito twisted around, turning his back on the television. Ryouga wasn't listening to him anyway; he had Mai in his lap, and the two of them were quietly but enthusiastically singing the inane theme song to some morning cartoon along with the broadcast. At least, Mai was singing. Ryouga sounded like he was fighting to stay awake. Yukito folded the paper and put it behind him. It was probably a good thing that he'd finished reading it; he couldn't really concentrate with all the chatter in the background.

"Ah, Yukito?" Ryunosuke waved him over. "Could you pick up a few other things?" Yukito could see the list from where he was sitting; it was as long as his forearm. He nodded, and resigned himself to a morning of shopping.

As it turned out, shopping didn't take as long as he'd thought it would. He was grateful for that little occurrence, since there were a few things he'd wanted to take care of, things that didn't involve his teammates. It was difficult to adjust to living and working with others; he'd been on his own since middle school. Even before that, his father had made sure that he had no close friends. So it was that though he enjoyed the company of the others, occasionally he still needed to get away from them.

He was walking up to the door of the shop when it burst open, missing him by millimeters. Asuka stopped just short of running him over. "Yukito-san!"

Yukito's leftover irritation at being woken up so early dissolved. Asuka looked like hell; he clearly hadn't had much sleep either. "What?" he asked when Asuka made no move either to speak or to get out of his way.

Asuka jumped slightly. "Torinoid!"

"Move, then." He jerked his head. The shopping bags were unceremoniously dumped in the corner and he studied the display across the screen. "What's it doing?" It was always some convoluted plot – directness was not a trait possessed by their enemies. "Wait..." He stared at the readout, sure he'd read it wrong.

"It's turning women into sakura trees!" Ranru confirmed what he'd read the first time. "And -"

Yukito just shook his head. The minds of the Evorian were completely beyond him. He didn't even want to know what kind of twisted logic was behind this one. "Let's go."

As they started out, the alarm went off again. Another dimensional gate had opened. Ryouga and Asuka went to deal with the second possible Torinoid, leaving Yukito and Ranru to deal with the sakura-tree-creating lunatic.

The Torinoid, when they caught up with it, cackled maniacally and fled in a shower of petals. He started to chase it and promptly tripped; for some reason, he couldn't move his legs properly.

"What the hell is this?!" Ranru's voice sounded from behind him. Yukito twisted around to see her tangled up in a long yellow dress with a narrow skirt. She ripped apart the seams until she could stand properly. "Yukito?" She looked over to him, and inexplicably started giggling.

"What?" he snapped, scrambling to his feet. By the time he made it, he'd figured out both why it was so hard to move and why Ranru was giggling. He was wearing an exact replica of her dress, except that his was a lovely shade of blue. "What is this, a running gag?" None of the _other_ men ever ended up in skirts.

Several centimeters of shredded material and a transformation later, he and Ranru were back on track. The Torinoid, however, had vanished.

"We'll have to go back to the cafe to track it," Ranru said disappointedly.

"Or look for sakura blooming out of season," Yukito pointed out. He could see several trees from where he stood, a trail that probably would lead them straight to the Torinoid. Or maybe a trap, he thought morbidly. Sometimes the Evorian creations were smarter than they looked. They were following the trail when Ryouga and Asuka joined them, running hard.

"What?" Yukito asked.

"Trap!" Ryouga gasped out.

Of course it was a trap. "What _kind_ of trap?" Yukito prodded.

Ryouga just stared.

Jeanne was waiting for them. That put them automatically down one fighter; she dragged Asuka off to the side and engaged him almost immediately. It was certainly a very _pretty_ fight, two fighters in black against the backdrop of falling cherry blossoms, but Yukito rolled his eyes. Asuka managed to attract melodrama the way a light attracted moths.

Across the square, the Torinoid cackled maniacally. Again.

"Here?" Yukito asked.

"Yeah." Ryouga gently lowered his burden. Yukito followed suit, although it was unlikely Asuka would notice even if they dropped him.

"How long do you think it'll take this time?" he asked.

Ryouga shrugged. The backlash effects of Asuka's energy problem were wildly varied. On one occasion he hadn't woken properly for nearly three weeks. Most often, though, it was only blunted reaction time and a tendency to get distracted. None of them knew why it was that Asuka had such trouble when he tranformed; he just did. "He'll be fine," Ryouga said cheerfully.

Yukito pulled the blanket over Asuka, making sure the other man was adequately covered. Didn't want him to catch cold or anything, after all. He must have spent too long about it, because he straightened up to see Ryouga giving him a slightly odd look.

"All it means is that we're down one for the lunch rush," Yukito said.

Ryouga's expression cleared, sliding into mild irritation and disbelief. If Yukito had been anyone else, Ryouga probably would have told him to be more considerate.

"Let's go," Yukito added over his shoulder.

While Sunday mornings were inevitably slow, around midday Sunday was invariably the busiest time of the week. Yukito had no idea how Ryunosuke had managed it on his own before. Certainly the four of them were kept fully occupied until well after the last customer finally left.

Ranru stretched as soon as the last counter had been wiped and the last dish put away. "Man, I'm tired."

"Lot of people today," Ryouga agreed.

Yukito paid neither of them any attention. They spent as much time talking as actually working and he preferred not to be distracted.

"Isn't that right, Yukito?" Ranru's voice suddenly registered.

"…yes?" he said tentatively, not having any idea what she was after.

"Great! Come on!" She grabbed him by the arm and began physically dragging him towards the basement.

"Hey, wait a sec," he protested. The basement had a sort of training room, complete with holographic opponents. After the fight that morning, training was the last thing he had in mind.

"But Ryouga has to go to Mai's Sports Day, and Asuka's still asleep," Ranru argued.

"And?" Shouldn't the Sports Day be about over by now, anyway? He tried to fold his arms across his chest, but with Ranru still clinging to one of them, it was difficult. "Hey, let go."

Ranru did so, nearly pouting. "I can't test it by myself."

There was nothing for it. As Ranru's teammate, he had the obligation to help her test whatever it was she had in mind, especially if it was something that might help them defeat the Evorian.

Yukito followed a smiling Ranru down to the basement, fingering his Dino Bracelet and trying to quell a vague feeling of dread.

"What happened to you?"

Yukito pointed a finger backwards in response to Ryouga's concerned question and tried unsuccessfully to brush the soot off his shirt with the other hand. "She did."

Ranru bounced up the stairs, still smiling. "Thanks, Yukito!" Ryouga blinked, face registering blank confusion. Ranru took pity on him. "Yukito helped me test this!" Running past Yukito, she waved her Dino Bracelet in Ryouga's general direction. "I added some stuff to it. I could do yours, too." She peered up at Ryouga with what was undoubtedly a predatory gleam in her eyes.

From behind Ranru, Yukito caught Ryouga's attention and shook his head very slightly.

"No, that's okay," Ryouga said. "What did you do to it?"

Yukito headed away from the pair. He'd had a firsthand demonstration of the new features on Ranru's Dino Bracelet; he didn't need a recap. There still a lot of bugs to work out, though, before the modifications could be put to any practical use.

Yukito had managed to make his way upstairs before the others noticed he was gone. He wanted clean clothes and a shower, though not necessarily in that order. Before going into his own room, though, he looked into Asuka's. The other man was still deeply asleep, but it didn't look as though he were dreaming. Yukito sighed. "Wake up, already."

He didn't expect an answer, and he didn't get one. If they were lucky, the Evorian would leave them alone until Asuka woke up again.

Mai accosted him almost as soon as he stepped out of the shower. For a moment, he was startled to see her, expecting her to still be attending her school's activities. Then he remembered that he had seen Ryouga earlier; Mai would have come back at the same time.

"Ne, ne, Sanjou-san!" She tugged on his hand, and Yukito made a quick grab for the towel around his waist before it fell.

"What?"

"Come help me!" She still hadn't released his hand, and she was smiling up at him. She was almost too cute to say no to. Almost.

"With what?" he asked, trying to free his hand.

"I… practisu… Engurishu," Mai replied carefully, in the indicated language.

"I don't speak English," he told her in Japanese.

Mai let go, all but stamping her foot, and reverted to Japanese herself. "Yes you do! Ryou-chan said so!"

"Where is Ryouga?" The towel was slipping again, and he adjusted it absentmindedly.

"Um…"

Yukito capitulated. "All right, all right, but I'm getting dressed. Okay?"

"Yay!" Mai literally bounced around him, her smile returning wider than before. It was easy to see that she was related to Ryouga; they both shared the same natural exuberance.

"No Japanese," Yukito told her once he'd gotten dressed. "Only English."

Mai nodded seriously. "O-kay, Mister Sanjou."

Despite his expectations to the contrary, Mai turned out to be a fairly good student. For the most part, she just wanted to practice speaking. Or Ryouga wanted her to practice speaking. Either way, she spent the better part of an hour simply talking. About everything. She only stopped when Ranru interrupted and asked if it wasn't Yukito's turn to help cook the evening meal that week.

"Sankyuu, Mister Sanjou!" Mai really was a cute kid, Yukito thought as she bounded off. Ryouga could be proud.

The setting of the sun brought the first breaths of cold to what had been a comfortably warm day. The door firmly closed against the chill, most of the residents of the café laughed and talked as they ate. Yukito sat apart from the others, half hidden in the shadows. Reflections of the lights in the other room winked up at him cheerfully from the glass tabletop.

Once or twice, Yukito thought he saw heads turn in his direction, abortive movements made towards him. It was Ryouga, though, who made sure he was left alone, using seemingly inadvertent questions or distractions. Yukito nodded once to the other man as he rinsed his plate, but Ryouga didn't acknowledge him. Perhaps he'd been wrong.

While the others were occupied with their conversation, Yukito slipped quietly out the door. He started walking, no particular destination in mind, not thinking about anything in particular.

At the sound of hurrying footsteps behind him, he automatically moved to the side to let the other person pass. Instead, Ryouga fell in beside him, greeting him with no more than a brief smile.

Surprised, Yukito started walking again. If Ryouga wanted to say something, he would.

After while, Ryouga did. "Thanks for taking care of Mai this afternoon, Sanjou-san."

Yukito shrugged. "No big deal."

"I'm lucky, you know." Ryouga turned searching eyes on him. "Because I have Mai. Because I have teammates."

Yukito stared at him for a minute. "Yeah," he agreed finally. "Lucky." It didn't take a genius to figure out that Ryouga wasn't speaking for just himself. He was lucky to have his teammates, he supposed. They certainly made life more interesting.

"See you later, Sanjou-san." Ryouga grinned at him and jogged off. Yukito watched his retreating form for a moment before following him back home.

The first floor of the café was dark when he got back. He made his way upstairs, intent on catching up on some of the reading he kept missing lately. He managed to work through most of it before he was interrupted by the unmistakable sounds of Asuka's nightmares. Yukito shook his head and slipped inside Asuka's room for the second time that day.

Asuka was twisting around, muttering something unintelligible. Yukito knelt down beside him and put a hand on the other man's shoulder. "Hey." Asuka didn't answer, but he seemed to calm down a little. "It's okay," Yukito said quietly, not sure why he was saying it.

Asuka stilled. "Yukito-san?"

Yukito snatched his hand back. He hadn't meant to actually wake Asuka. "Yeah."

"Is something wrong?" Asuka sat up, holding one hand to his head.

"No, not really." Yukito stood up. "Good night."

Asuka blinked twice. "Good night," he returned, voice puzzled.

Yukito retreated to his own room. Suddenly very tired, he crawled into bed and turned off the lights. In the other room, he heard Asuka start to play the harmonica. The melancholy notes washed over him, and for once, he found the melody unreservedly beautiful.

As Yukito drifted towards sleep, he smiled.

finis


End file.
